After the biggest year of his professional career — which resulted in five Grammy Awards for his iconic Drake diss “Not Like Us” — rapper Kendrick Lamar will take the biggest stage in America when he performs at the Super Bowl on Sunday.
Lamar’s performance, which will also include singer SZA, is highly anticipated after he dominated both culture and music charts for much of 2024. And the people who helped put him onstage aren’t shying away from the hype.
“Everyone will agree this is a halftime show like none other in Super Bowl halftime history,” Jesse Collins, the executive producer of the show, told NBC News. “The creative concept is really something brilliant, spectacular and special. In all of our years of doing this — and I think every show that we’ve done has been amazing — but I have never seen an artist take this creative approach to it.”
Roc Nation, the entertainment company and NFL partner that produces the halftime show, first tabbed Lamar to headline the Super Bowl last summer. He was already a critically acclaimed rapper, and his stardom reached another level after the May 4 release of “Not Like Us,” the knockout blow in his feud with Drake, the Canadian rapper.
The song broke multiple streaming records and earned Lamar five Grammy awards, making it the most decorated rap song in the award show’s history.
Not long after the song was released, Lamar got a phone call from Roc Nation founder Jay-Z asking him whether he would perform at the Super Bowl.
“It’s almost like the stars aligning,” Roc Nation CEO Desiree Perez told NBC News. “We would hope that every single year someone accomplishes what Kendrick has accomplished this particular year. You can’t even really plan for something to align so perfectly.”
Lamar’s halftime performance will also be the first since the NFL and Roc Nation extended their partnership — which encompasses both live music and social justice efforts — in October. Roc Nation’s halftime shows have been well-received, with the 2022 show featuring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem and Mary J. Blige becoming the first Super Bowl halftime to win an Emmy.
Perez said the NFL has been very trusting as a partner, never once questioning a decision about the artist selection.
“What we bring to the table is not just booking the show; it’s also understanding the environment that we’re going into and understanding what’s going on now,” Perez says. “Understanding the pulse of culture at the moment when the show is going to happen and doing that with precision is what I think we’ve been able to master.”
Planning for a Super Bowl halftime typically begins immediately after the previous one, which means Roc Nation has been in meetings for Sunday’s show since last February. During the week of the game, preparation will reach a fever pitch.
Lamar will have at least three days on the field to rehearse before Sunday, and on those days the performers will run through the entire set multiple times. The halftime show is unique in terms of timing and staging — Lamar has exactly eight minutes to get on the field and six minutes to get off, without damaging the surface where the game is supposed to take place. (Simply getting the stage on and off the field takes more than 100 people, Collins said.)
As for what to expect during the show itself, everyone is predictably tight-lipped. Perez said that whether or not other artists will be involved is entirely up to Lamar, though she said there will be “a few surprises that we haven’t seen in the past.”
“Kendrick is one of the most creative, incredible artists of our lifetime, and … he is not going to disappoint,” she said when she was asked directly what fans should be excited for.
Collins said: “Roc Nation, Jay, Kendrick and his whole team, we’ve all really busted our ass to figure out something different. And I think people are going to be blown away.”
